


Where the Heart Lives

by ardentaislinn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Neighbours AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-04
Packaged: 2018-01-17 22:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1404595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardentaislinn/pseuds/ardentaislinn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Killian is living with his best mate Neal when Emma Swan moves in across the hall. Killian is drawn to her immediately, but circumstances conspire against them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Killian was almost home when he noticed a car parked out the front of the apartment building. The doors were wide open, and boxes were spilling out onto the sidewalk.

A new person was moving in. Cool.

He opened the gate to see a blonde woman with her hair in a ponytail struggling to carry two boxes at once to the front door. He jogged over to her.

“Hey, can I help you?” he asked, hovering at her side in case she dropped the boxes. They were stacked so high he couldn’t even see her face and he wondered how she had carried them as far as she had.

“Er, thanks,” she huffed out. Killian immediately took the top box from her hands. Her face was revealed and Killian felt as if the breath had knocked out of him.

She was beautiful, with an absolutely luminescent smile. His stomach flipped as she looked up at him, her eyes shining with gratitude.

“Yeah,” he managed, still unable to take his eyes off her.

“I guess my She-Hulk powers were a little lacking today. I was getting impatient carrying the boxes one at a time, but I can see I overestimated myself.”

Killian managed to snap out of his trance at the mention of the green superheroine. “Well, then I shall be the Man-Wolf to your She-Hulk and help you carry them in.”

She grinned. “A man who knows his comics history. I like it.”

Killian didn’t quite know how to answer that, but there was a small corner of his mind that was doing a happy jig at the compliment. He gestured to the apartment block with his box and she took the lead. As they were going up the steps she threw a look at him over her shoulder and smiled.

Their eyes caught briefly before she turned back to the door in front of her.

“I tried to get the elevator before, but it didn’t seem to come. Is it just really slow, or…?” she asked as they walked past the machine in question.

“Oh, it’s probably broken down again. It does that a lot.”

She sighed. “Well, this will be fun,” she said sarcastically.

“What floor are you on?” he asked. As far as he knew there were a few empty apartments throughout the building.

“Four,” she replied, huffing a little on the stairs.

“You must be in the one across from me, then? 4b?”

“So, we’re going to be actual neighbours? Cool. Nice to know I won’t be across from some skeevy guy,” she replied with a laughed.

“You should meet my flatmate first,” he joked.

She laughed, and Killian felt oddly pleased. He found he very much liked hearing this woman’s laugh.

They stopped talking until they made it to her apartment, out of breath. Killian put his box down on the kitchen counter, and she did the same. Their met and Killian felt himself smile.

“I’m Killian, by the way.” He held out a hand.

“Emma,” she replied.

“Like Emma Frost?”

“Yeah,” she said with a smile. Then, her eyes lit up. “Speaking of, have you read the Astonishing X-Men run? Emma Frost is only in the earlier issues, but I thought it was pretty good overall. I only just caught up with the last Marjorie Liu issue yesterday. I’m sad to see it go.”

“I bought all the issues as they came out. I really like Marjorie Liu. I feel she gets Black Widow like no one else.”

“Totally. I wish she’d written more. The Name of the Rose was the best arc in years.”

“Yeah, but she wrote the animated Black Widow versus Punisher movie which is coming out really soon. It also has Carol Danvers in it. Other than a case of gravity-defying boobs it looks pretty good.”

Killian cursed himself internally for mentioning boobs. Probably giving Emma all kinds of wrong impressions.

“Oh, awesome, I had no idea,” she replied, seemingly not put out at all.

The conversation paused, and Emma looked up at him with an almost expectant face, but Killian couldn’t work out what she was waiting for. He frowned slightly, trying to puzzle it out, as Emma drew in a breath to say something. Something in his expression apparently changed her mind because instead she turned towards the door.

“I should get the rest of my boxes out of the car.”

“I’ll help,” he offered.

She turned to give him a confused look. She studied him for a moment and then shrugged. “I won’t say no.”

They developed a silent rhythm, going up and down the stairs, too out of breath to talk. It was a quarter to five when Killian looked at his watch and realised he was going to be late for work if he didn’t leave immediately.

He jogged over to Emma where she was by the car. “I’m going to have to leave to get ready for work. Sorry to abandon you with the rest of the boxes.”

She smiled up at him. “That’s alright. There aren’t many left.”

Killian couldn’t quite look away. The air between them felt charged with possibility. He wondered briefly if he should ask her out, but decided that she had enough to worry about today without guys coming onto her. There would be plenty of time for that once she was settled in. Besides, she could have a boyfriend that he hadn’t heard about yet.

“Bye. I’ll see you around,” he told her. He reluctantly left her and jogged back up the stairs to his apartment.

He quickly put some leftovers in the microwave and changed into his work gear. He scarfed down dinner and then looked around the kitchen. It was a complete mess.

“Neal!” he called on the way out of the door.

“What?” replied a sleepy-eyed Neal, stumbling out of his room.

“It’s your turn to do the dishes. They probably should have been done today,” he tried not to judge, he really did, but Killian couldn’t understand how Neal could be content to live with the kitchen in such a state.

“Sorry, dude. I had a big night. I’ll do them now.”

“It’s…yeah, sure,” Killian said, letting it go. “I have to get to work.”

“Have fun. Flirt with all the ladies for me.” Neal grinned.

Killian smiled back half-heartedly. He liked his job as bartender at The Swashbuckler, but flirting with drunken girls was not one of the reasons why. Neal, however, did that regularly, even without being paid for it.

There was only one girl that Killian wanted to flirt with right now, and she was probably across the hall unpacking.

Neal interrupted his thoughts. “I might see you down there later.”

“Sure.”

Killian left, his thoughts already distracted by when he might see Emma again.


	2. Chapter 2

The Swashbuckler was overflowing with people by the time Neal showed up late into the evening. Killian finished serving a pair of inexplicably giggly girls as his friend worked his way up to the bar.

“Hey, Neal. Your usual?” Killian asked, feeling pretty generous despite the busy shift. Meeting your dream girl will do that.

Neal nodded in reply. “Is that band still on tomorrow night? The one you like?”

“Yeah, they’ll be in the upstairs section, where the second bar is.”

“Cool, because I asked a date along,” Neal said, scanning the room.

“Oh, yeah?” asked Killian as he slid a drink to his friend, wondering how Neal had managed to find a date since he’d seen him just a few hours before. The man had a true gift for it.

“Yeah, there’s a cute blonde who just moved in across from us.”

Killian froze. The sounds of the lively bar were replaced by a ringing deep in his ears. Blackness crowded at the edge of his vision. For a long moment, he could think of nothing at all. After what felt like an eternity, but was probably only a few seconds, Killian managed to wrench himself back to the present.

“Emma?” he asked, desperately hoping he was wrong.

“Yeah. You know her?” Neal was suddenly paying more attention to him.

“We met. I helped her move some boxes.”

Killian still didn’t feel quite present. He was going through the motions of serving people, but part of his mind was dwelling on his new neighbour. He should have just asked her out when he had the chance, but this development made Killian think she can’t have been interested anyway. He and Neal had very few similarities. Killian didn’t resent her for accepting his friend, as it was perfectly within her rights to date who she pleased. Still, he’d missed his only opportunity to find out, and that hurt.

Neal gave him a strange look, and Killian did his best to focus.

“I’m going to do the rounds,” his friend said, leaving him to his thoughts.

Killian wasn’t sure who he hated more in that moment: himself, for not taking the chance when he had it; or Neal, who had.

`

It was 1am by the time Killian dragged himself up the stairs after his shift. He’d managed to immerse himself in the monotony of his work, so the hours had flown by without him dwelling too much on the idea of Emma and Neal together. It still stung a little, but he was ready to move on from it.

Or so he thought.

Emma was sitting on the staircase with her head drooped over a partially empty box on her lap and various items strewn about her on the stairs. She was lit by the dull safety light above her, making the rest of the hall look darker in comparison. Killian paused, once again reminded of how lovely she was. He rolled his eyes at himself and determinedly cleared his throat.

“Do you need some help?” he asked, softly, mindful of the late hour.

She looked up, and Killian could see tracks of tears running down her face.

“Hey, are you alright?”

He carefully stepped over her items and found a place to sit against the opposite wall. He carefully kept their knees from touching.

She nodded. “I’m fine, really. I couldn’t get to sleep in the new apartment, and I remembered I had a few more boxes in the car. But when I was bringing this one up I tripped. I guess I have been pretty overwhelmed recently, because apparently that was enough to make me start crying.”

She gave him a watery smile.

“The straw that broke the camel’s back, huh?”

“Something like that. A new city, and new job, no friends that aren’t over the other side of the country. I’m terrified I’ve made a mistake by giving up my life to come here. But a dropped box was the thing that became too much.”

She shrugged and smiled at the absurdity of it, and he returned the gesture.

“Why did you come here? To New York, I mean.”

“I’m looking for my real parents. I know that New York was the city I was adopted from, but not much else. So, I figured I would move here while I was still young and portable and give myself a shot of finding them.”

“That’s pretty brave,” he replied. “How are you going to go about finding them?”

“I’m not sure yet. My job is basically hunting down information though, so I’m hoping it won’t be too difficult.”

“What do you do?” he asked, curiously.

“I’m an Insurance Investigator. I make sure people’s claims aren’t fraudulent.”

Killian’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? That sounds pretty awesome.”

She smiled and glanced down, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve only been doing it a few years, but I really enjoy it.”

“See, you’ve got plenty to be excited about. A job you love; a new friend; a date tomorrow. You’ll settle in soon enough,” he told her with as much of an easy smile as he could manage.

She frowned. “How did you know about tomorrow night?”

“Neal’s my flatmate. He told me.”

“Oh,” she murmured. Something flickered in her eyes, but she looked down before he could decipher it. “I figured I couldn’t really say no to meeting new people. So, you’ll vouch for him?” Killian could tell she was only partially teasing.

Killian felt his chest grow tight. There was an insidious portion of his brain that desperately wanted to lie, and tell her that Neal was a terrible person, maybe even a serial killer.

“He’s a good guy,” Killian said instead. “We’ve been friends for years.”

Emma nodded slowly. She looked up, and Killian’s breath caught. He was almost sure that it was regret he saw on her face.

Killian closed his eyes on the temptation to believe that she regretted accepting Neal. That she would rather be dating him, instead. It was only his own imagination that was leading his mind that way. There was no proof otherwise.

He opened his eyes, and saw that Emma’s face was simply pleasant. He must have imagined the look. It was the only explanation.

“I’m working tomorrow night, anyway, so I’ll probably see you there.”

She nodded. “Sure, alright.”

They both began picking up the items surrounding them and placing them in the box. Soon enough it was done and they both stood.

Due to the confines of the stairwell they were standing far too close, but Killian couldn’t bring himself to move back. But neither did Emma. He held himself still as she looked at him, their eyes level because they were standing on different steps.

His chest tightened and he couldn’t take a full breath. Their eyes held for longer than necessary, and Killian couldn’t look away.

She drew a breath as she studied his face. He tried to keep it blank, knowing that she could never find out about how he felt. She didn’t need the burden of his unrequited crush right now. Hopefully he could get over it quickly, and they could settle into an easy friendship.

Whatever Emma had been about to say, she obviously changed her mind, because she turned away and began walking up the stairs. Killian followed a few steps later, deciding it was better if he kept a physical distance between them as well.

“Thanks for the talk,” she said without turning around.

“Anytime,” he replied, and meant it. Killian knew that he and Emma could be good friends if he didn’t screw it up. It would be nice to have a friend that he had such similar interests with. He only had to get over his infatuation with her. He’d known her for just a few hours. It couldn’t be that hard.

Of course, it didn’t help that he admired her even more after this encounter.

They said their goodbyes at Emma’s door. Killian let himself into the apartment he shared with Neal. He immediately walked into his room and collapsed face first onto is bed.

He would get over this. He had to.

**Author's Note:**

> My knowledge of comics is limited at best. So, if any of you are super into comics and notice an egregious error (or a small one!) please, please tell me. I at least know a little about Marjorie Liu, as I love her urban fantasy/paranormal/romance novels. I was actually listening to a really interesting podcast interview with her this morning about the Black Widow vs Punisher movie (among other things) which might be where the idea for this conversation came from. Though the idea for the story itself has been in my brain for a while. The title of this comes from one of her novellas, as an homage


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